Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Mar 26: The All Arunachal Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers’ Association (AASSATA) on Monday pleaded with the state government to exempt in-service SSA teachers from Teacher Eligibility Tests (TET) like APTET and CTET for regularization of their services.
Stating that the Right to Education Act 2009 was implemented in the state in 2012, the AASSATA in a press conference at the press club here stated that the TET, which is mandatory under the Act, should not be implemented on those who were appointed before 2012.
AASSATA president Tarak Agung Tarh added that as per the judgment of the courts in various other states, TET is not mandatory for those in-service SSA teachers who were appointed prior to the implementation of the RTE Act in their respective states.
He added that a clear notification for TET exemption should be issued for the in-service SSA teachers.
Tarh also demanded that the state government completely ban the process of service renewal for the SSA teachers.
He informed that since 2009 to the 7th DPC, altogether 696 SSA teachers have been regularized without having to sign continuation or service renewal forms.
Moreover, he said, the SSA teachers will be busy up to 22 April for the ongoing examinations, and that it would not be possible for them to submit the service renewal agreement forms by 4 April, which is the last date set by the authorities concerned.
The association further demanded that the state government constitute a high-level steering committee for batch-wise regularization of those in-service teachers who have served more than 15 years; issue a notification of SSA teacher’s enhanced salary to the district administrations; and create posts in the DEE for in-service SSA teachers.
The association, however, expressed gratitude to the state government for inclusion of DA for the SSA teachers every year in the budget session, and for cancelling 136 illegal appointments under the DEE.
